Thomas Wolfe’s most famous short story might be “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn.” It begins with a guy asking for directions. Two natives get into an argument about how to get there. It’s a wonderful scene. But I like the story because it raises a philosophical question: Can you drown in Brooklyn?
The narrator is a perplexed native who tries to give directions to a hapless guy who thinks he can get to know Brooklyn with a map. The newcomer finds a place on the map. Then he goes and looks.
He’s the guy who asks the question about drowning.
The narrator is so perplexed he can’t grasp the idea.
“Yuh can’t drown in Brooklyn,” I says. “Yuh gotta drown somewhere else — in duh ocean, where dere’s wateh.”
The new guy has been to places such as Red Hook where there is water. But to the narrator, those are otherplaces in a way, just as the ocean is another place. His concept of the place is different. The story, in a sneaky way, gets at the concept of what a place is.
The concept of place is one of the recurring themes at this collection of notes. Our sense of place is part of our perspective. We don’t notice it unless a newcomer comes along with a different view.
• Thomas Wolfe, The Complete Stories of Thomas Wolfe edited by Francis E. Skipp; New York: Scribners, 1987, p. 263.
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